Methodology

No Links?

Where I've been unable to find digitized versions, I've left the sources without links if they are found later (most notably the British Library, ifykyk).

 

Methodology

In the beginning, I started going through every link on pages from Larsdatter, but that was frustrating when so many of the sources there are in the British Library and haven't been re-digitized yet.

I switched to perusing online museum collections, including but not limited to: 

• Ashmolean
• Berlin State Museums
• British Museum
• Hermitage
• LA County Museum
• Louvre
• McCord Stewart Museum Montreal
• Met
• Museum of Fine Arts Houston
• National Gallery of Art
• National Museum of Ireland 
• National Portrait Gallery
• Prado
• Smithsonian
• Thyssen-Bornemisza 
• Victoria & Albert
• UBC Museum of Anthropology

Then there's the reverse image searching of random images on Pinterest that I found intriguing.

 

Samplings

Some entries, like dogs, have excessive entries per country/culture whereas others have relatively few, like spears.  Dog breeds are incredibly varied and can quickly change over a short span of time or with the artist.  Spears, on the other hand, are a pretty universal design and there are plenty of extant spearheads.

Then there are ceramics, which hold up pretty remarkably in the archeological record. I was pretty scattershot, focusing on common and particularly unique items, when it comes to tableware as each museum tends to have a robust collection.

 

Secular Imagery

Religious imagery isn't always a great choice when it comes to research since they're often at least partly based in fantasy.  Since I'm not a Christian, I really don't want to spend hours upon hours poring over Christian art.  By sticking to secular imagery as much as possible, I could narrow the project's scope.  

Where there are insufficient sources, such as Cranach dresses, to provide a satisfactory sampling I've expanded to include religious themes.  You will find a note at the top of such pages.

I made this choice0 after already making significant progress, so you may find some still kicking around.

 

Time Span

I've chosen to set the time span from 800-1600, mainly because I had to narrow the scope of this project somehow and while the end date was obvious, 800 was completely arbitrary.

In the case of cultures that have been extensively looted for private collections or regions with conditions hostile to archeology, the parameters are little more wibbly wobbly. 

Why do you use Modern Countries Instead of Cultures?

My goal is to make research accessible to people new to it.  Do you know the difference between Classic and Postclassic Periods?  Most people probably don't outside of a European context, but they know at least roughly where modern countries are.  Most museums provide cultural labels anyway.

Then there are the items found in a location, but are made in another.  In cases where it's impossible to determine the origin, the find location is given, but I wanted to avoid associating something with a culture incorrectly. 

 

You Haven't Duplicated Every Entry on Larsdatter?

Again, choices had to be made for the sake of what little sanity I have left.  Take coins, for example.  Do you know how many thousands of extant coins are out there in museum collections?  (I'm pretty sure they're only outnumbered by pot sherds).  There are literally entire museums for numismatics.

I also haven't included crests because I'm a herald and I'd then have to pretty much document every single page of every single roll of arms, too.